The ARC Chronicles: In Seas of Burnt Sand
by DaEndGame
Summary: This is the first book of "The A.R.C Chronicles". It is inspired by Ark: Survival Evolved. The Story itself centres around Aristaeus Ravilla Cosmos (Aris for short) who has lived on the many Arks for hundreds of years, most of which is spent in seclusion on the uninhabited side of "The Dividing" until a monstrous creature challenges his dominance over the many Arks.
1. Chapter 1: The Scorched Lord Beckons

Chapter 1: The Scorched Lord Beckons

"RRROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRWWWWLLLLLL" came a satanic call, vaguely similar to a that of a sabre-tooth, echoing off of unseen walls. Aris opened his eyes, only to find himself standing in the exit of a cave. It exited into a wide ravine with ancient ruins clinging to its side and in its centre were the remains of monolithic columns that once held up, what was a vast ceiling. Atop one of the few remaining intact columns, stood a malignant beast. The heat shimmers were blurring out its features and yet Aris knew its eyes were on him, staring; issuing a silent challenge, a dare to come and take it from its perch.

"RRRRROOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRRWWWWWWWLLLLLLLL" declared the beast again, and the image sharpened. Aris could make out the head of a lion, with a mane as dark as midnight, horns protruding from each side of its head. It had the body of a lion too, but it had mighty black, leathery wings, and the tail of a scorpion. Alas its eyes kept drawing his sight back to its face, they were a ruddy yellow and the pupils were like that of a snakes. A strong presentiment of fear overcame him whenever he looked in them, a fear the likes of which he hadn't felt in a long, long time.

He hadn't felt such fear when he faced the ultimate lifeforms, the tyrannical lords of the

so called "ARK's": The Broodmother, Megapithicus, and the mighty Dragon. They were all the size of a fully grown bull brontosaurus and bigger; in the dragon's case, it was almost as tall as the monolithic Titanosaur. He had faced them all alone, yet he had had help from The Beast, his dark side, when fighting them all. It was Aris and The Beast that the creatures of all the ARK's now bowed before and they ruled peacefully. The only creatures that didn't obey them were the rogue individuals infected with the Alpha virus and the pesky humans, of whom had named the "ARK's" "ARK's".

"RRRROOOOAAAAARRRRWWWWLLLL" beckoned the creature again, as it landed with an earth shaking thud in front of him. "Walk through that cave," it said a deep, hoarse and slurred voice, "go and see what challenges that the Scorched Lord's kingdom holds…" it uttered, "Go and see what awaits you in my Seas of Burnt Sand" His fear increase ten fold; none of the other ultimate lifeforms had the gift of speech, or at least they hadn't seemed too.

Aris turned around and walked through the cave, after a few steps everything went dark. Looking behind him, he discovered that the cave entrance had disappeared, so he continued on. After a few minutes of walking in the near pitch blackness, a bright, warm light appeared a few metres ahead. Once his eyes had adjusted, he noticed the caves entrance and three large eggs in a nest near it. One was green, one was red and the other blue, as he got closer to them he heard a thud echo from the cave entrance. He looked up and saw a large reptilian head peer over the top of the caves entrance, the mother had returned…

It crawled along the walls into the cave and Aris looked at it. It resembled the great Dragon, but it was much smaller and its wings were a part of its front arms.

"Ggggraaawwwlll" the dragon challenged.

It opened its mouth and Aris saw fire springing from its lips. He threw up his arms and felt a heat as fierce as the sun, yet he didn't die. He cautiously opened his eyes and lowered his arms; he was suddenly surround by a vast and seemingly infinite expanse of sand dunes and was being baked alive in the suns excruciating heat.

A name sprang to his mind…

"The Seas of Burnt Sand" he uttered with fear and contempt, "I WILL CONQUER YOU" he yelled in defiance; and the world faded…

…Aris burst upright from his nightmare, for that is what it was. He had been challenged by the Scorched Lord, a challenge that he couldn't refuse.


	2. Chapter 2: Arrival

Aris looked at the remains of his fire, as it took to flame by itself, a shape was formed by its many tongues, it was the Scorched Lord's malevolent head letting out a roar of fire crackling. As the ghastly head's shape disappeared, the constant light of the three obelisks flared brighter than the sun. They lit up the entire island brighter then day, yet the light left as fast as it came and Aris knew it was the Scorched Lord's official invitation to the "Seas of Burnt Sand" as it had called it. Its silent beckoning…

The urge to take up the challenge he was issued overruled all logical thought. To even consider declining would be a total self-undermining statement declaring that he didn't deserve the reverence he had earned from the creatures of this land. So he kicked out the last off the embers glowing in his campfire, packed up his belongings and climbed out through a hole in the top of the hollow redwood tree, which he had called home for many a year.

As he emerged from the hollow, a bird whizzed by his head, eliciting a sigh of exasperation from Aris. The cheeky archaeopteryx had made a habit of trying to scare him every time he left his canopy home, and it let out its own sort of laugh in reply to the sigh. The 'joke' as it seemed to think it was, wasn't funny the first few thousand times and never would be. But, Aris had developed a bond with the small bird and he knew he would miss its familiar presence.

"Could you help me get down?" Aris asked of the bird, it jumped into the air in compliance and he leaped for its legs as handles.

The archaeopteryx, he had discovered, were very strong despite their small stature and were capable of supporting a full grown human in the air, but it could only glide. So he held onto it for as long and as far as it took to reach the ground, which happened to be most of the way to the green obelisk. As they touched down at the foot of the water fall nearest the obelisk, Aris said, "thank you friend, I will miss your constant and irritating presence." and with that he turned, walked up the hill towards green obelisk and left the Archaeopteryx to its own devices.

After a few minutes he arrived at the northern entrance of the Interior, the valley that housed green obelisk, and entered Green Gully. Green Gully was a very short gully that lead to the Interior and was the safer and far easier to access of the two entrances. After the short walk through Green Gully, Aris arrived at the edge of the Interior and slowly walked around the seemingly natural crater-like land formation.

After another minute's walk around the Interior's raised paths and along the land bridge that led to the natural pedestal, of which the obelisk's terminal was housed upon, Aris arrived at the terminal. Aris started priming it for cross ark transferal. As he had expected there was a new pre-set that he hadn't made and all the pre-sets were made by him. It was labelled The Scorched Earth, Sea of Burnt Sand.

"Mmmm, so someone has been there before me? That's a first." Aris remarked, as he initialised the transference procedure and slowly turned around, watching the Island as its myriad of greens, blues and browns faded to every known shade of yellow and brown.

The Scorched Earth was very bleak, with little if not any green at all. That was all the details Aris could make out before the solid platform of metal gave way to soft, loose sand and he began to slide down the side of what he assumed was the top of a mesa. After only a few moments he was at the edge and he barely managed to get a hold of the mesa's solid sandstone cliff face, holding on for dear life.


	3. Chapter 3: Hang here often

The scorching sandstone cliff face was burning his hand, yet he held on even tighter for he knew that if he lost his grip he would plummet to his death. Using his free hand, he felt along the wall for a viable hand hold, finding one within moments and pulled his feet up onto a narrow ledge, sweat was pouring freely all over him throughout the process. After testing both his hand holds and the ledge, Aris decided to turn himself around to get a better view of the landscape.

After a few minutes of slow and deliberate movement, he had turned himself around one hundred and eighty degrees. Now that he was facing the land, he could discern the myriad of details that he had missed the first time. Below him was a large, dried up river bed with a few areas that still contained water; there were a few lightly wooded areas, but the tree's leaves were of a very dull green. He could see specks moving along the ground that he assumed were animals around the size of a stegosaurus, although the heat shimmers made him uncertain. Further back there was an imposing mountain range, although they were not remotely as daunting as The Dividing.

The land had a harsh beauty to it, yet he could feel pain and misery emanating from it like a bad smell. Something had happened here long, long ago and somehow it had turned this land into what it was, but what it was like beforehand was more than a mystery.

"You hang here often?" came a muffled voice to his left.

Looking to his left, Aris' eyes met those of a Tapejara that had latched itself to the sandstone cliff beside him.

 _"_ _Did the bird just speak to him?"_ Aris thought to himself, " _no it couldn't have, only humans had the gift of speech"_

"Ahh, hallo" Aris said aloud, most of his English was rusty.

"Salut monsieur, would you like some help?" came the muffled voice again, it was definitely a human's voice, albeit it was muffled.

He had a choice to make, either put aside his dislike for most humans and accept aid from the stranger or tell him to raptor off. Aris didn't fancy spending the next few hours climbing down the cliff face in this heat, so he decided to accept the offered help.

"Umm sure, but how am I going to get on? Your tapejara's wing is in the way and I don't fancy being carried." Aris finally responded.

"Oh, I didn't think of that. I guess I'll have to fly as close as possible and you will have to jump…" the stranger replied

Aris still couldn't see the voice's source, as the tapejara's wing was in the way. Aris grunted in assent to the idea and the tapejara and its rider launched from the cliff face moments later. Arid watched as they flew right up to him and turned in mid-air. He had forgotten how agile tapejaras were.

"You ready to jump?" the rider yelled over the sound of wings flapping.

Aris nodded, not trusting his voice to be heard over the noise.

"Alright, on three." Said the rider,

"one,"

Aris prepared to jump,

"Two,"

Aris pounced from the cliff face and landed squarely on his feet, legs bent, crouching on the secondary seat and grabbed onto the handles in front of him. His early boarding startled the rider, causing him to fall out of his seat.


	4. Chapter 4: Welcome to Hell

As fast as a thunder clap Aris caught one of riders hands, as he fell from his seat. After getting a better grip on the saddle and riders hand, Aris pulled rider back into his seat.

"Thank you," said rider, "and what happened to 'on three'?"

"Uhhhh, I don't know," Aris replied, "gut instinct I suppose. Now can we get going please?"

Without replying, rider picked up the tapejara's reins and drove it around the mesa plateau, and then towards the now visible green obelisk.

After an hour had passed the rider spoke, "What's your name?"

Aris remembered the last time he had told someone his real name, long story short it ended with a battalion of the elite guard in hospital and a few cuts, and bruises on his part. "Arretay," He finally replied,

"Well Arretay, I'm Alex and my friend here is Boeing," said Alex as he patted Boeing's neck,

"and we are on our way to Orion city," silence fell after that.

It wasn't until Orion city came into view that anyone spoke again,

"What is with you people and building massive cities surrounded by gargantuan walls?" Aris asked,

"I don't know about the city size, but the wall makes people feel safer." Alex answered,

Aris grunted in assent.

"Why is it you grunt so much?"

Aris pretended he didn't hear him.

After a few more minutes they landed in a courtyard that was just inside the main gate and they both dismounted.

"You will have to get registered by the Gatekeeper over by the small dinosaur gateway," Alex said, "by the time you're done I should be finished unsaddling Boeing"

Aris turned around to thank Alex face-to-face, but was stopped in his tracks when he turned to find a women standing there instead.

"Alex," Aris asked, confusion evident in his voice.

She sighed in exasperation "Alex is short for Alexis; don't fret about it, you aren't the first person to mistake me for a man and you most definitely won't be the last," replied Alex, "now go and get registered"

Still baffled, Aris did as he was told and walked up to the gatekeeper's office to get himself registered. The gatekeeper's office was a small shack with one wall replaced by a tavern counter for business dealings, at the back of the shack's interior there was a desk and chair with a bounty board on the wall behind it. He couldn't help but notice the extra-large one with his name on it; thankfully there was no picture, only a description.

"Can I help you, son?" asked a portly old man that had just entered the building through a side door.

"I'm here to be registered." Aris replied.

"New to the Scorch are you?"

"Yes."

"Well then, welcome to hell."

"If its hell, then why are you being polite?"

chuckling to himself, the gatekeeper replied, "Alright then, I'll just need to ask you a few questions, is that alright with you?"

"Aha."

"Then first things first: first and last name?"

"Arretay Lebête. Spelle the e," he said, lying to a degree.

"Interesting name. Age?"

"26." _Lie_

"Date of birth?"

"I don't really know, but it is around the end of Autumn." _The truth_

Aris' answer earned a quizzical look from the gatekeeper

"Is this _your_ first time on any Ark,"

"No," truth

"How many others have you been on,"

"Two, The Island and The Center," _partial lie_

"Thank you for answering those for me," said the gatekeeper as he gave Aris a piece of paper, "this is your ID slip, DON'T lose it,"

"I won't," Aris replied and he turned around to walk back to Alex, but stopped as soon as he had started. He had seen that man's face before…


	5. Chapter 5: Old Friends

Aris slowly turned back around to face the gatekeeper, all the while his mind was hard at work trying to dig up the gatekeeper's name. He could recall a much younger and thinner face, but the name remained just out of reach, like an item on a shelf that is a smidgen too high for you to reach. He couldn't remember where and when he had seen him, only the face. When he had finally turned back around, he saw that the gatekeeper struggling to suppress a grin. Evidently he had already worked out who Aris was and also noticed that Aris hadn't realised who he was.

Aris warily took a few steps forwards, closing the gap between him and the shack, then asked, "Carter?"

The gatekeeper started to chuckle, "It's been far too long Aris; did you honestly think I wouldn't recognise the name I gave you?" Carter replied, " Arretay Lebête; more or less french for 'he stops the beast'. You daft old fool."

Obviously in discomfort, Aris wisely didn't reply.

Still chuckling, Carter said, "Sorry to have to do this, but I'm going to have to ask you to report to City Hall."

"Why?" Aris replied in vain,

"You know why, and take this," Carter said as he handed Aris another slip of paper, "hand it to the guards at City Hall."

"Arretay, what's taking you so long?" Alex said from directly behind Aris, startling him.

" _Arretay_ and I were just having a friendly chat," Carter responded, "but we just finished, so he is all yours Miss Alex. Oh and before _Arretay_ here forgets, could you please take him to City Hall for a meeting with the mayor?"

"Sure thing, but if I may ask, why?"

"That's not my place to say."

Nodding in acceptance and having finished they're exchange, Alex turned to face Arretay and found that he had slowly backed away while she was talking with Carter and that he was almost at the gate. Befuddled, she went after him, catching him by the arm right before he slipped into the crowd of people returning through the gate. He turned and faced her without saying a word and looked straight into her eyes. She could see something in them that she had never seen in another person, something. She wondered what was so important about him that he had to see the mayor and not the governor like most freshies and the ranger that brought them in.

Arretay nodded and said, "Lead the way."

Without a word Alex let go of his arm and lead the way through the gate and up the main road, which was empty aside from them and the others that had walked through the gate as well. After walking up the main road on their way to City Hall for around five minutes, Alex asked, "Why do you have to see the mayor?"

"Now isn't the best time, not to mention it is a very long story." Arretay responded in a forlorn and melancholic voice.

Hearing a sharp intake of breath from Alex, Arretay said, "No more questions please."

And they continued to trudge on in silence and blistering heat. After another ten minutes, Arretay said, "We should take shelter somewhere. I don't fancy getting caught out here in the storm."

"Wha-" Alex was cut off by the tolling of distant bells: three rings, a few seconds of silence then another three rings. Alex knew it as the signal for an incoming sandstorm.

"How di- " Alex began,

"Doesn't matter, we need to find shelter" Arretay cut in,

"The signal means it will hit us in ten minutes, if we run we'll make it to City Hall in time." Alex answered,

"Alright." Replied Arretay, as he ran off up the main road towards the looming City Hall. After recovering from the initial surprise Alex took off after him, but she could tell she was losing ground on him faster than she could think, so she picked up the pace.

By the time he had reached the Large double doors that were the entrance to City Hall, Arretay could see the sandstorm approaching from the west at a rapid pace. Looking back down the way he had come, Arretay could see Alex was still charging her way on up to him. If he had remembered how slow humans were, he wouldn't have gone so fast.

Ever so slightly, as subtle as a pin dropping, he heard an intake of breath, "Please wait a moment." Arretay said before the guard behind him could speak, "I'm waiting for a friend, then I'll go inside." Arretay didn't even have to look at the guard to know there was a look of pure disbelief on his face. Arretay chuckled silently to himself in amusement.

The sandstorm had reached the city wall by the time Alex arrived and she was clearly winded, sucking in copious amounts of air into her lungs. Between breathes Alex said, "How… Do… You... Run... So... Fast?"

Without answering, Arretay grabbed Alex by the arm and showed the guards his ID slip and the other slip that Carter had given him. As they opened the door for him, he pulled Alex in with him and found a chair for her to sit in and recover her breath.

After a few minutes, Alex got up and said, "Come on, the mayor's office is this way." and walked off, knowing full well that Arretay could easily catch up and keep up. After only a few steps, an ominous grating sound signified that the sandstorm had arrived at City Hall. Continuing on and following Alex up multiple flights of stair and up and around many hall ways, they eventually arrived at the anteroom to the mayor's office where a young man, barely more than a boy, sat behind a desk; the mayors clerk.

Arretay walked up to the clerk and said, "We are here to see the mayor, on order of gatekeeper Carter." He showed him the slip he had been given. Looking up, the clerk glanced at the slip, took it from Arretay and walked up to the door to the mayor's office. He knocked gently then walked in and after a few moments' walk back out, accompanied by a gentle "Come in," from inside the room; almost certain to be the mayor.

Alex stepped forward first and lead the way in, with Arretay following in shortly after her.

As he walked in, Arretay took a good quick look around the sparsely furnished office before he laid eyes on the mayor himself and would have yelped in surprise if he hadn't of met Carter earlier. It didn't surprise him to see another person who should have died long ago, especially one that he so easily recognised. His name was William, he was six foot four inches tall, former military general of New Haven City's Armed Forces and was once his closet friend, but that was lifetimes ago. Arretay considered whether to take his chances with the sandstorm raging outside, or to risk it in the office with William.


	6. Chapter 6: Smoke

After as much of a careful consideration as was possible in less than ten seconds, Arretay concluded to stay and hear what William would have to say and if need be dive through the window into the raging sandstorm. After another few moments, William finished the visual analysis he had been taking of both he and Alex, he said, "Never in my life did I expect to see you in my office again, not ever."

Arretay didn't reply, which is what William had expected from him. Alex however had a highly confounded look to her and after a few moments said, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"You don't need to worry about it, Alex," William replied, "You are dismissed for rest of the day,"

"With all due respect sir, I found him and that gives me some right t…"

"You are dismissed Alex," William said, interrupting Alex,

"But father…"

"That is enough," he interrupted again, his voice had lowered considerably – Arretay knew that tone, he had found himself backing up from it on more than one occasion – effectively silencing the retort that was springing to her lips and without another word she walked out of the office.

William drew in a deep breath and returned to his seat at his desk, Arretay waited a few minutes before speaking, "She gets that mouth from you, ya know? She clearly gets everything else from her mother," Arretay said, "Speaking of, how is Teresa?"

William didn't respond, he just looked at him and brandished a bottle and cup, with his eyebrow raised in query. It may have been a very long time since he they had seen each other, but Arretay could still read him like a book and William's stoic expression, accompanied by his attempt to change the subject spoke volumes.

Arretay nodded, accepting the proffered glass of what smelt like wine and took a seat across from William, who had moved to an alcove of old chairs around an even older table.

William was already well into his second glass before Arretay had taken his first sip and it was most definitely wine. It was a well-aged vintage, in fact Arretay would dare say it was well past the vintage stage, and it was easily the best wine he had ever tasted.

"Told you I would hold onto it, didn't I?" William said, after noticing his reaction to the wine,

"'I'll hold onto this one till the next we meet and we'll drink it together that same night,'" Arretay replied, reminiscing of a time long past whilst staring into the bottom of hid cup, "those were your exact words. Neither of us expected that to be almost four-hundred and thirty years did we?"

Both of them chuckled forlornly at the remark.

Both of them continued talking of their past together all through the night, as they went on the mood continually rose. By the time the wine bottle was half empty, Carter had entered the office and sat down with them, joining in on the conversation as if he had been there the whole time. When they had finished talking and the wine bottle had been long empty, Carter left and William drunkenly stumbled his way up to his private quarters via a concealed stair well in the back of the room. Arretay passed out in his chair as soon as both had disappeared from view.

 _Amidst his sleep, Arretay dreamt of the past; of running through the forest, dire wolf pack in tow; of hanging from the highest branch of the tallest redwood and basking in the beauty of his side of the Divide, untouched by both man and time. Soon he was pulled from the peace of his dreams and into the chaos of nightmares; battlefields piled high with the dead, rivers of boiling blood, a massacre of limbs and mangled flesh, the ultimate lifeforms and the worst of all; the Scorched Lord…_

 _It was standing atop a sand dune, where the sand sea met the Scorched Earth. It made no sound, only walked down the dune towards Arretay, accompanied by the gentle crunch of sand._

 _"_ _My lair is far across these vast seas," it declared, "cross them at your own peril."_

 _After staring at Arretay for a few seconds, it turned around and stalked off into the dunes, the heat shimmers rendering it invisible after a hundred metres._

 _Arretay stood there, staring after the now gone monster. His internal senses told him that he was facing east, so that is way he would go when he was ready to fight it. Eventually the world around him faded and his senses started to track what was happening around him, out of the dream._

Arretay didn't open his eyes, not wanting anyone to realise he was awake. He could hear people talking inaudibly, likely in a vain attempt to not wake him. They stopped almost immediately after he had awoken, and Arretay felt their eyes upon him.

"Looks like his nightmare ended" William whispered, someone else grunted in asset.

After a few moments their chatter continued,

"Are you sure?" a man whispered, not William but another and the voice was irritably familiar.

"I am, it's only Le Bête that we have to worry about and Aris has plenty of control over him." William whispered with uncertainty.

"What about the _'_ _incident'_ all those…"

They were cut off by the foyer door as it squeaked on its hinges, followed by a thud.

" _Alex_." the other man said so quietly few men had the ability to hear it, he wasn't happy.

Arretay opened his eyes to find both of the men with their backs to him, the closet's height marked him as William. Alex was slowly standing after falling to the floor when the door fell open. She had been eavesdropping and there was no denying it.

Slowly the other man walked forwards, he was short, but would still stand over Arretay. His body seemed tense and rigid, like he was in constant pain and was trying to hide it. His hand was slowly rising above his shoulder ready to slap Alex; he clearly had a temper. Arretay was expecting William to intervene, but he simply looked away; it was most unlike William to let something like this happen.

The man was almost upon Alex now, she was against the wall waiting to get hit, but before the man's arm made the descent Arretay burst from his chair. He was fast as a racing gallimimus and within a second he had crossed the room, grabbed the man's wrist and wrenched him away from Alex. After the initial surprise wore off, the man tried to break free of Arretay's steel grip and ultimately failed.

"You going to stop or do I have to…" Arretay let go of the man and almost yelped when his eyes ran over the man's face. One side was a horrible mess of burnt scar tissue and the other was seemingly untouched by anything but age and a few battle scars. It wasn't his scars that had surprised him though, it was the fact that he was third man in less than twenty-four hours that he had met that should have been long dead. It was starting to get on his nerves; a lot.

"Surprised are we?" The man asked with a hint of derision, he had never given Arretay or anyone else his real name, only said to call him…

"Smoke." Arretay replied, struggling to keep the surprise from his voice. He and Smoke had never been the closest of friends, in fact they were best described as constantly bickering team mates then friends, but there was still a friendship there of sorts.

No one seemed willing to talk, and the tension in the room was constantly growing.

Finally, Smoke talked, "You're looking young for your age, Aristaeus. What's your secret?"

Alex poorly suppressed a gasped when she realised Smoke had been talking to Arretay and she slowly made for the door.

' _Raptor's Claus' claws.'_ Arretay thought to himself, ' _Alex wasn't meant to know who he was and now she did.'_

Before she could open the door, Aris stepped forward and held it shut.

"Don't tell a soul." He warned and opened the door to let her leave. There was no need to threaten her, it wasn't needed; the legend of Aristaeus Cosmos would be more than sufficient to keep her quiet.


End file.
